Murder on Ice
by packman23
Summary: When someone kills Flippy a string of murders begins. Only one person can stop it, and he is somewhat cold. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Happy Tree Friends. That gory honour belongs to Mondo Media._

**AN: I thought I'd try to write a detective story where the detective never talked or moved. It seemed like a good challenge, so here it is. Please R+R**

Chapter One: Igloo

Giggles looked up from the book and it struck her yet again just how cold it was in the room. The desk the book had been on was quite literally a block of ice and the author of it was little better. Cro-Marmot was smiling down at her from across the room, his face locked in what looked very much like a confident grin. She smiled back and, when no response came, placed the book down on the glass-encased desk.

"It's very good Cro," Still no response, "But why does everyone have to die at the end?" She stopped and listened for a second, "I guess your right, that is what mysteries are meant to be like. But still, it's really morbid."

She looked up at the frozen caveman again, he was still smiling down at her, he didn't seem to have moved since she had last looked at him. She sighed, Cro was normally more active than this, "Is something bothering you?" Still no response, she sighed, she liked talking to the cavemen but he could be very strange sometimes.

"Giggles are you here," Cuddles wandered in, his slippered feet sliding slightly on the icy ground, "Man it's cold in here." He turned to the houses owner, "Can't you get heating." The caveman smiled back, either ignoring Cuddles totally or just somehow amused.

... ...

Giggles crossed the outside Cro-Marmot's snow dome, after the freezing temperatures of the caveman's house the warm sun of Happy Tree Town was a great relief. She passed the hospital and was not too surprised to see Toothy being hauled away with yet another horrible injury. She groaned, it wasn't too unusual to see things like that in Happy Tree Town, that sort of thing happened all the time, but it was still sort of depressing. She looked away and watched as Flaky ran nervously across the park grass, narrowly avoiding several kite strings that had already succeeded in beheading Lumpy. She looked back at the snow-globe, it was sad that so many tragic deaths had to happen every day here. But, she supposed, that was what made this place special, not in a good way, but special none the less.

She turned back to Cuddles and smiled, heading away from the houses and out towards the woods, it was calm out there and you could forget your troubles. At least until you died again.

Giggles had just reached the edge of the forest when she heard screaming.

... ...

By the time Giggles got there the place was surrounded by police, well empty cars and one real policeman. Lumpy, somehow restored from his previous death, leaned against his car trying to decide how the best way to deal with the situation, and completely ignoring the crowd that had crossed his police tape and were gathering excitedly around the scene. Giggles stopped to look around for a second, vaguely registering that nearly everyone in town, including one frozen cave man, were gathered around the scene. She wasn't quite sure how Cro-Marmot had beaten her, but maybe the fact she had had to almost drag Cuddles here had something to do with it. She looked down at her friend, who smiled up at her, despite the many cuts and bruises he had accumulated while she had been hurrying.

The two of them pushed through the crowd, stopping when they drew level with Cro, he was frowning inside his block of ice, and staring at the scene with such intensity, Giggles was surprised his ice didn't melt. She followed his gaze and immediately realised what had confused him. Death was not rare in Happy Tree Forest, but most of it was accidental. Brutal murder on the other hand was rare.

There was no mistaking it, the victim had been stabbed several times, apparently with several different knives, all of which were still lodged into his back. His head also appeared to have been smashed in and Giggles flinched slightly, looking at the red ooze that covered the pavement. Even after living in the town for years she still couldn't believe that that much blood could come out of a single creature.

But then her eyes traveled to the victim's face and she realised that it didn't have to, she saw green blood matted fur, scorched and torn with scars that remembered a war long over, sharp teeth that were pulled back in one horrific, sadistic smile. And the eye, a single intact emerald orb stared at the crowd resonating hatred even after the last sparks of life were gone. Flippy lay on his back, blood and various organs pouring from the many wounds that covered him, and still, that smile fixed on his face.

Giggles turned away, she just couldn't keep looking, and found herself almost bumping into a large block of ice, the caveman must have moved while she wasn't watching. She sighed and glanced back at the crowd, which was already dispersing; not many people cared for a weirdo like Flippy and those that did were more concerned about his nicer half. She looked up at the frozen Marmot, he was frowning again and a brown detective's hat seemed to have appeared on his head, she smiled slightly despite the situation, "Surely, you don't want to investigate this?"

His expression didn't change, "Yes I suppose you're right... And I didn't call you Shirley!" She shook her head, Cro loved cliched lines, "Where do we start then?" The caveman didn't move and she sighed again, "Sometimes I feel I've got to do all the work here."

Giggles stepped away from the caveman. Who would have thought that being an _intellectual _meant everyone else doing the work. She jumped down onto the road and headed for the body, looking around she noticed a selection of large military vehicles ranged around the area. Whoever had thought of bringing Flippy to the military museum must have been out of their mind. She passed a case of grenades and looked down at the gory scene.

Flippy may have gone down but he hadn't done so easily, body parts from Sniffles, Lammy, Cub and several other unidentifiable corpses lay around the car park; in the centre lay the green bear, his uniform tattered, his beret laying two meters away. She felt herself well up slightly, she knew he would be back in a few days, and that he was a monster, but she never would have wished something like this on anyone, not even Flippy. She bent down close to the body and shuddered slightly somehow Flippy's corpse was even scarier than he normally was; it may have been the unblinking eyes, the way they hung on you, burning into your mind, watching you...

She tore her thoughts away and focused instead on the area, not much remained that was not covered in blood and she saw at once that she would not find any evidence here. She turned instead to the suspects, aside from the dead she could not rule out anyone from this crime scene, she sighed, turning away.

It was then she noticed the glass, shattered pieces of clear glass lay throughout the blood, she was surprised she had managed to avoid them all the way through her brief search. The source of the glass it seemed, was a large display cabinet labeled rather helpfully 'knives and swords through the ages_'... _well that answered any queries about the murder weapons, but who...

"Let me guess," The voice startled Giggles causing her to jump literally a foot into the air, "Your trying to work out, 'who's tough enough to kill Flippy.'" She turned to see Cuddles standing at the edge of the blood pool, looking, somewhat nervously, at the glass spread around the area, "Just how strong was this guy?" He pointed to the case, "Shatter-proof, well almost, you'd need a weapon to get to the weapons." He tapped the ground with his foot, "And this, whoever did it must have been seriously crazy."

Giggles frowned, "What are you saying Cuddles?"

The rabbit smiled and rubbed the back of his head, "Well I just noticed you looking around and wondered, can I help?"

Giggles smiled slightly, it was nice to remember that her friends were here for her, but that still didn't give them a lead. She looked over at Cro, who was once again glaring at the crime scene, and in his hand she noticed something...

A candy wrapper... Nutty.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I don't own Happy Tree Friends. I'm not quite sure who does, but still._

**AN: Wow, I have a lot of expectations to live up to. By the way, I like the idea that people don't die in Happy Tree Town so Flippy will be back in a few chapters. But it would be no fun if it was that easy would it?**

Chapter 2: Nutty's Interview.

The igloo swirled with the usual cold wind as Giggles stepped into it, once again Cro-Marmot had managed to beat her there. She sighed, she would never work out how that caveman did that, he always seemed to get everywhere before everyone. She sighed, did it really matter how this all worked?

"I suppose if it didn't I wouldn't be here." She realised she had just spoken aloud and blushed slightly, the caveman however simply remained smiling down at her. She smiled again and sat down opposite him, "Have you found anything else?" No reply, she wasn't surprised, recently it seemed as though Cro had been distracted, he had been quieter than usual and always seemed lost in thought. If he'd found something though he would have told her, "Well, shouldn't we follow that lead we got," She looked up, "Okay, okay, I'll leave the detective lines to you." Another pause, she laughed slightly before standing and heading for the door, "It's time to crack our little squirrel friend," She looked at the smiling marmot, "Well I thought that was quite a good line."

... ...

Giggles parked the ice-cream truck on the edge of the garden and got out, there wasn't really a road system, roads just appeared, seemed to melt away and therefore didn't really matter anyway so they just sort of got ignored. She looked around to see the grossly over-colourful house infront of her, candy stuck to the walls, the roof; the garden was filled with bulging patches of earth where the house owner had tried to grow _candy trees_. She recoiled slightly at the sight of it.

"Hello." She jumped slightly, whirling round to see Cuddles standing behind her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, relieved to see a friend.

"Isn't it obvious," He pointed to an old fashioned brown hat perched on his head, "I thought I'd help out with the detecting." He smiled, and Giggles frowned slightly again, Cuddles was a good friend but... He was sort of goofy... and he freaked out at the sight of blood... and there was that thing with the rice pudding and the soccer ball. She turned to look at Cro, who was staring up at her from the truck.

"What do you think?" She waited, no response, "Come on, aren't you meant to be the detective here?" More silence, "Well..." She noticed something, Cro-Marmot was glaring slightly; it always annoyed him when he found something he couldn't do. He was stuck.

... ...

The green squirrel stared into his wardrobe, hmm... was a pink lollipop the right colour for him? He shrugged, it didn't matter, they all looked better after a few spoonfuls of wonderful, wonderful sugar. On that note...

The door rang and Nutty pricked up his ears. It wasn't usual to get visitors so early... or was it late? He giggled, his world was upside down... Or was he the one the wrong way up? He laughed again, fidgeting slightly, he crossed to his door and threw it open.

"Good morning, hehe, can I help you? Hehehe." He giggled slightly, "Can you help me? Spare some candy?" He laughed still more.

On the doorstep Giggles recoiled again, this guy was as nuts as his name implied. She watched as his eyes whirled up in his head, if this was what candy overload did to you she was glad they'd rationed the stuff. The green squirrel squirmed slightly, twisting round and tripping over his feet as he stepped back from the door to let them enter, "You'll look sweet upon the street of a Popsicle built for two." He rolled over as Giggles stepped carefully over him, treating him to a look of disgust that didn't quite reach his sugar addled brain.

"So I expect you'll be staying for tea." He smiled, completely ignorant to the fact that it was very early in the morning, "I'm sorry it's late, life travels slowly for everyone else." He giggled some more, whirling into a tornado and away into the kitchen.

Giggles wandered into the dining room, surprised to see that Cro-Marmot was already there... he was fast. She smiled slightly, moving to sit next to him. Much to the obvious annoyance of Cuddles who had followed her in. He slumped angrily into a small armchair next to him, and stood up even more angrily on discovering the chair was stuffed with hard, spiky candy.

Nutty whirled back out of the kitchen, smiling manically as he drew up a tray.

"Sugar anyone?" He stopped for a second as if expecting an answer, his eyes whirring crazily as he laughed harder than Giggles would have thought possible, "Ten lumps or twelve."

Giggles flinched away from the mad squirrel watching with distaste as the animal's eyes rolled in different directions, she nudged closer to Cro; causing an angry glare from Cuddles.

"Um... No thanks, I'll just have cream please."

Nutty span backwards, laughing, "Oh... I'm sorry I seem to have run out of cream," He looked down again, neither of his eyes focusing properly on the tray, "And tea... Heheheheh, but does anyone want sugar?" He laughed again, louder than before, flipping a grain of sugar into his mouth.

Giggles smiled as cheerfully as she could, "Well actually Nutty we came to ask you something..."

"Well, no time like the present... Are you sure you wouldn't like any candy, everyone likes candy?" He paused for a second, giggling slightly, "Ah well all the more for me." So saying he tipped his head backwards and emptied a bowl of candies into his mouth. Laughing madly he turned to the three _detectives._

"We just wanted to know what you were doing on the night of..." Giggles checked her watch, "Yesterday."

"Yesterday huh, hehehehe." Nutty threw himself onto another chair, ripping candy out of the seams and devouring it, "yeah, yesterday's interesting, hehe, but what's in it for me?"

"We don't have times to play games with a madman," Cuddles had adopted his best tough-guy voice, "Just tell us what we need to know," He cast a inquiring look at Giggles, but she was distracted by the maniacal squirrel and had obviously not noticed his attempts to impress.

Nutty had also failed to appreciate the drama, either that or he was too crazy to care, he rocked backwards and forwards in his chair, cackling, "No, no, no... You see my memories not so good without candy. I need it, need it." He was shaking, "Need it, come on buddy," He fell to his knees, shaking still, "Help me out." He crawled forwards and clutched at Giggles, who was slightly disturbed by this sudden change of personality, "Come on lady, you can spare a candy, come on, I need it." He was yelling now, scrabbling at the floor.

"Okay, okay." Cuddles drew a brightly wrapped sweet from somewhere and tossed it to the desperate squirrel, "What do you know?"

Nutty drew himself up to his feet shakily, "T-thanks buddy," He raised the sweet gingerly and raised it too his mouth, "I need this, thanks so mu-" He broke into laughter, giggling madly.

Cuddles groaned, turning to the stern Cro-Marmot and shrugging, "He's not cracking."

Cuddles could not have been more wrong, Nutty staggered forwards, laughing manically, gasping for breath in between outbursts of hysteria. He grasped at Giggles, eyes bulging, whirling desperately in his sockets. He wobbled, falling to his knees and shaking violently.

Cuddles smiled lightly, "Okay Nutty you've had your joke, now if you could just tell us..." He stopped seeing the squirrel twist pitifully on the ground, "Come on Nutty," He picked up another candy and held it to Nutty's eyes, "Just stop, I've got another candy."

Nutty was shivering now, staring up as best he could at the rabbit, his laughter echoing off the walls, "Heheheheheh, he-lp," He clutched his sides and rolled onto his back, his mouth now foaming, still gasping for air. His breath were getting harder now, his shivering body wracked with spasms.

"Oh God," Cuddles had retreated into the corner, his eyes tightly shut, trying to block out the echoing laugh, "Oh God, no, this isn't happening... This can't be happening." His voice faded into muttering, once again overpowered by the echoing laughter.

Nutty's shaking was worse now, his breath was running out and his laughter becoming weaker. Giggles had stood to her feet and was trying to find something to help him, medicine, candy, anything. Cro-Marmot had remained completely unmoved, staring at Nutty with a kind of stern concern. Like he knew there was nothing he could do but wished there was. For a second Giggles felt a pang of annoyance, Cro was a genius but he could be so heartless.

Then the gasping laughter reminded her of the present, she turned desperately to the poor squirrel, gripping his hand and trying to console him. But it did no good, wherever Nutty was now he couldn't hear her, his eyes rolled up in his head, staring at the inside of his head. A dash of red appeared in the foam at his mouth and the laughter died into a gurgle. Giggles wiped a tear from her eyes and stood, watching as the foam in Nutty's mouth turned slowly red.

It was over, Nutty was gone. She looked over at Cro for a second and knew something from his shadowed, stern face.

Murder.

_Moral: Laughter is the best medicine._


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I still don't own HTF and I'm glad (I have a conscience)_

**AN: Thank you to everyone who's been reading my stories. I hope you like them. I did feel slightly bad about putting a happy moral at the end of such a sad chapter but hey, they do it in the show.**

**AN 2: LouveAsha- Cuddles won't be the next suspect (but I do really like the idea so I might slip it in later).**

Chapter 3: All at sea

The funeral was brief, except for Giggles, Cro-Marmot and a few relatives the graveyard was practically empty. Not many people it seemed cared much for the candy addicted squirrel. Giggles sighed and stood up, turning back to Cro, who stared quizzically at the flames that lapped around the body. Burials weren't popular in Happy Tree Town, they always came back and no one wanted to find their own grave, cremation was far more usual. She thought for a second before speaking, "We didn't learn anything did we?"

The caveman remained silent, once again thinking. Giggles knew better than to interrupt him, she turned again and slowly walked away, leaving the graveyard and the frozen man behind.

... ...

Giggles wasn't quite sure how long she'd known Cro-Marmot, he had been around when her parents were little, he was sort of a permanent fixture. Cro had always lived in Happy Tree Town and Giggles just accepted his presence as a fact. Then there was his mind, she had heard that Cro had lived in the town for thousands of years, what had he done with his time? Cro-Marmot had read, on astronomy, on science, on mathematics, on history (the stuff he hadn't lived through), on... well, suffice to say the list was quite extensive. Maybe that was why she trusted him, he was a genius, capable of theoretically working out any problem (she assumed), or maybe she just looked up to him. It didn't really matter, all that mattered was Cro would figure everything out.

She just knew it.

... ...

Cuddles on the other hand knew exactly how he had come to know the frozen caveman. Late Autumn, years ago, he had just moved to Happy Tree Town and who was the first person he had run into, some raving madman who'd gone on and on about how the world used to be. Logic, theories, advanced this, progressive that. It just went on. That caveman made his head spin. Always so cold and distant, the man hadn't had any similarities to Cuddles and they had just sort of ignored each other. The intellectual icicle had been content to sit back in his house _reading _while Cuddles went out to do important things. He sighed, that had been until Giggles had come along.

She'd changed everything.

... ...

Cro-Marmot didn't do anything anywhere near as interesting. He thought of course, ideas ricochet off one another and swirled round his brain. But he never moved, not even a blink, he just stared at the book spread infront of him, frowning, until Giggles entered, towing a slightly disinterested Cuddles in her wake. The yellow bunny looked around and shivered, muttering slightly under his breath.

"So what have you found?" Giggles waited for Cro's reply, as Cuddles kicked his heels (he couldn't understand half the things that marmot said anyway), "What do you mean we learnt something important... Well it wasn't obvious to me."

Cuddles stepped forwards "There was that moral at the end," Giggles (to his annoyance) did not look impressed by the suggestion and turned back to Cro.

"No, why should I have noticed what the house smelled like?" Listening again, Giggles sat gingerly on the chair opposite.

Meanwhile Cuddles, obviously slightly intrigued, slumped down by the wall and adjusted his detective hat to look as cool as possible. "Seaweed, some of his candy smelt of seaweed, but why does that matter?"

Giggles turned slightly, looking at Cuddles differently somehow. Not strangely, just differently. Then it passed and she turned back to Cro, "Yes... That's it," She turned back to Cuddles excitedly, "Only one person in Happy Tree Town takes seaweed everywhere, Russell."

Cuddles stood, "I know, I heard him." He lied, "Why's that important?"

Giggles sighed, "If he was there, Cuddles, he's a suspect, he might know who poisoned Nutty." She turned away and ran out, "I'll get the truck ready."

Cuddles slouched out, "I knew that." He muttered to himself. When he reached the door he turned back slightly, his eyes resting on Cro-Marmot and he noticed something.

The caveman was smiling.

... ...

Russell's house took less time to reach than Nutty's had, he lived on the outskirts of the town, near Cro's huge snow globe. The ship house came closer and Giggles looked up from her map, across at Cro, who sat in the driving seat, staring straight ahead. She frowned, surely it wasn't safe for him to drive. They hadn't crashed yet though, they might have killed a few people but no one had tried to stop the caveman to check his license (which had expired around the fall of the Persian empire).

The truck conveniently ran out of petrol right infront of Russell's home and Giggles smiled, everything always worked out with Cro, maybe that was why she looked up to him. She pushed the thoughts away, this wasn't the time to worry about little riddles.

She stepped out of the car and rang the bell, which sent loud squawking parrot sounds throughout the area.

"Avast landlubbers." The door was thrown open and a sword skipped across Giggles vision, resting on her throat, "State ya business else I'll slit ya neck."

Cuddles rushed out of the car and to Giggles defense, "Look, w-we just need to ask you some questions." He stopped for a second and cast a despairing look around his eyes settling on the caveman in the driving seat, who looked strangely impassive.

"Yar, he's right," Russell withdrew his sword and motioned at Cro, "It be plastic." He ran his hand along his 'sword' and smiled, "But a man's gotta look aft' his booty." He smiled widely and shrugged slightly, "Now, what were ya sayin' 'bout questions?" He moved out the way of his door and motioned them inside, "Oh, an' mind th' parrot."

Stepping into the house Giggles cast her eyes around, chests were everywhere, treasure spilling from the sides and onto the floor. The walls were virtually lined with yellowed paper maps and charts. Tables were spread with yet more navigation charts.

"Why do you have so many maps," Cuddles caught up with Russell and whispered to him.

The pirate surveyed him for a second before breaking into laughter, a sound that made Cuddles flinch slightly, "Yaharhar, this be only a temporary waterin' point matey. I'm a pirate, th' Floundering Betty'll be up an' runnin' in a week or so."

Giggles looked around some more, tree limbs punctured the rotted warped planks of the ships hull, strong foundation poles struck from floor to ceiling, anchoring the ship into the tree roots. Russell may have his dreams of sea, but this ship would never move again, even Giggles could see that, she turned her attention back to Russell, vaguely noticing Cro's ice cube leaning against a wall (He was fast).

"Ya see it's all in th' capt'in that's what ma daddy used t'say. It don't matter what th' ship's like it be th' cap'in what matters matey." He laughed again, obviously not noticing Cuddles' discomfort.

"Well that's not really what we came here to ask you about..."

"Then why ya wastin' time talkin' 'bout this then. What ya come here t' talk 'bout?"

Cro stared at him for a second and he smiled.

"Course I was at th' museum Mr Marmo' why'd ya need t' know?" He waited, "Well, I don't know 'bout no murder." Another pause, "I was editin' ma charts, I be leavin' this port soon Mr Marmo' I need t' be ready." He waited raising his hook slightly, adjusting his hat with it's point, "Well 'f ya not be likin' ma tone ya can always ask someon' else."

He crossed into the kitchen and Giggles, remembering what had happened to Nutty, followed him. She passed a window and looked out, seeing strings laced out of it, barely managing to dodge the sharp fishing lines that spread across the room.

"Ya migh' wanta watch out fer them lines. I'm gonna catch maself some food fer tonigh'." He smiled raising one of his peg legs and motioning to it, "But they be very sharp." He laughed again the harsh sound vibrating off the walls, "Look I tol' ya I don't know 'bout no murder."

"What about Nutty?" Cuddles had entered behind Giggles and stood slightly in the shadows, trying to look as cool as he possibly could, Russell merely smiled at him.

"I saw th' little cand-e-man a few days ago, why?"

"He's dead," Cuddles reply was flat and toneless, obviously designed to test the man's response.

The otter's face fell, he looked winded for a second before turning away, "Thank ya fer tellin' me," His accent was slipping slightly, "It's a shame, a cryin' shame." He turned back, "'E was a good man ya know," Tears streamed down his face slowly, "A very good man. Now 'f ya mind I think it's best ya be leavin' now."

"We think you may have been involved in Nutty's death Russell, are you sure you don't know something?" Cuddles obviously did not realise he had overstepped the mark, the pirate swung round, a real sword flashing this time, striking into the wall with a heavy thud. A strong smell of seaweed filled the room and the otter sagged slightly, his sudden outburst gone.

"'E was a good man, an' a good friend. Now I really mus' insist ya leave." Cuddles opened his mouth but the danger in Russell's eyes silenced him, "NOW!" The pirate's roar echoed of the walls.

Giggles turned, gripping a silent Cuddles by the wrist and trudging out. From the door to the house the caveman gazed inquisitively at the two of them. Giggles shook her head as she reached him she laid her hand on the door and pushed it open.

Then came the scream.

... ...

Tables had been thrown aside, charts ripped into shreds, knives pinned against the wall and a sharpened hook lay discarded on the floor. The lines, on the other hand, were still intact, if pulled in, they hung loosely on every surface, they wrapped around the shattered planks and glass. A huge fish, speared on a hundred fishing hooks lay across most of the room, the obvious cause of the destruction. And below it...

Giggles knew what was there even before Cuddles had fallen to his knees, whimpering. Beneath the fish, crushed and tattered, impaled by his own shattered wooden legs, lay Russell, the pirate's mouth formed into a final scream. His body was smashed beyond recognition, twisted, broken bones stuck out at odd angles and blood welled from his many wounds.

One fish couldn't have done all this, next to her Giggles heard her friend's sobs.

"This can't be happen. It just can't be." Giggles laid a hand on his shoulder and tried to steady him, but silently she felt the same. She bit back the tears, shuddering slightly.

"Don't worry Cuddles, he'll be back." She tried to stop her voice from wavering.

One fish couldn't have done this.

It couldn't, it couldn't, it...

Oh God.

_Moral: Don't be a big fish in a small pond._


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I don't own HTF, with luck I never will. (I don't feel like having to write so many deaths)._

**AN: Thank you for the reviews, in this chapter I will be bringing Flippy back (but as I said, it can't be that easy).**

Chapter 4: Seargent Stripes

Giggles shook her head sadly and kicked her heels. Why did everything end up this way? In front of her Cuddles lay in the hospital bed mumbling quietly in his sleep. She stood slowly, he'd freaked out on seeing Russell's corpse, he'd had to be sedated eventually. That was it, how it always ended, in a hospital. She sighed and turned away, the doctor's said he'd be fine as soon as he woke up, but she never really trusted a hospital that employed Lumpy. She reached the door and pushed it open, almost bumping into Cro outside the door, she looked up at him.

"What do you mean?" She listened again, "Who wants to talk to us?... Already."

She set off down the well known corridors, in Happy Tree Town the hospital was virtually a home away from home, and even if it hadn't been she did work as a nurse. She rounded the corridors, approaching the room Flippy always used when he was _recovering. _She opened the door slowly and was surprised to see Cro -Marmot had beaten her there, only hospital employees and patients were meant to be in the Dead Ward, and as far as she remembered Cro had only been there once. A circle of red tape covered the floor and in the exact centre, next to a full length mirror and a small table, was a padded chair with chains attached to its legs, wrapping around the cushions and the arms of the figure in the chair. Flippy sat stiffly upright, his eyes closed humming a tune under his breath. Giggles started towards him but, hearing her footsteps, his eyes snapped open.

"I wouldn't cross that line if I were you ma'am." His voice was clipped and barked, "That's _his range_" He gestured to the mirror.

Giggles stopped herself and backed away slightly, this wasn't the Flippy she was used to, everything about the way he sat, moved and spoke screamed soldier. He raised himself slightly forwards towards her, the chains that covered him clinking against each other. She cleared her throat and slipped as well as she could into detective mode, "Um... Mr Flippy we wanted to ask you some questions."

Flippy smiled widely, "Naturally. The general here has already given me the speech," He gestured to Cro, "I am afraid though that I won't be able to help you much ma'am. _He _was in command at that point," Another glance towards the mirror.

Giggles shuffled slightly, she couldn't think what could be wrong with Flippy, he'd never been like this before, "Do you at least know what happened at the museum."

"Museum?" Flippy raised an eyebrow turning to Cro and whispering for a second to the stern marmot. Finally he turned back to Giggles, "I don't have time for games ma'am, there's a war on."

Giggles thought for a minute, Cro would usually have explained stuff like this, but he seemed to be concentrating on the same mirror Flippy was staring at. She sighed, "The war's over..." She thought again, "seargent, you don't need to fight any more."

Flippy relaxed slightly, before sitting straight again, "How do I know you aren't from the enemy."

Giggles sighed, she'd never had to deal with Flippy just after he had revived before, she couldn't deal with this. Then she looked up at Cro, "You're right," She turned to Flippy, "If we were still in the war and I was the enemy wouldn't I be in uniform?" Flippy nodded, "And would I be asking you about a regular crime."

"You could be trying to get a confession."

Giggles smiled, "Believe me Flippy, you're the last person I expect a confession from."

"Do you expect one from him?" He pointed to the mirror, "The general said you were investigating a murder, I don't know why you're asking me though. I told your bosses, I'm just reconnaissance, I'm never going to be an assassin."

"I'm sure your not Flippy. Thank you for your time" She cast a glance at Cro, "What do you mean? Okay if your sure, Flippy do you mind if we, erm, talk to him?"

Flippy sighed, standing so that the chains forced his arms behind him and crossing to the mirror, "Okay you miserable wretch," He barked at the mirror, "Get out here, someone wants to talk to you."

Giggles shuddered slightly as she watched Flippy, she knew what was coming next. He stared at the mirror shaking slightly, then he pitched forwards gripping the sides of the mirror and tearing two off the legs of his chair to regain the use of his arms, he whirled round, green eyes slowly forming.

"I told you," He yelled at the mirror, "I told you not to wake me up! I save your ass, you deal with the consequences." He swore and lifted the mirror above his head, crushing it; before rounding on Giggles, "I hate waking up before we've recovered, why the hell did you do that." He focused, "Wait a minute I know you," His face cracked into a disturbing smile, "You're that girl that _he _hangs around with, well, it's not like he knows you now, my friend always has a little trouble remembering things before his _little porcupine friend _comes round. She always _jogs his _memory." The green bear burst into cruel laughter, striding across the circle, demolishing the chair with his bare hands, "Not that I would know, he never tells me much about his life, not that I don't find things out." He laughed bitterly again, then stopping suddenly, he whirled round to face the chipmunk, eyes glowing with fury, "What are you still doing here?"

"Um... as I was telling you're, um friend," The green bear spat onto the floor and swore, "We'd like to ask you some questions Mr..."

The green bear growled, "Names not important, and don't you dare lump me in with that coward. Now what do you want, and spare me the pleasantries," He sat heavily onto the table and put his feet on the wreck of the chair, pulling a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it, "It's not like any of you care for a bastard like me."

Giggles shivered slightly under his glare, "We just want to know what happened at the museum."

"Nothing happened, I got dragged along by Flippy and that skunk he knows, nice girl, bit too innocent for my liking." He laughed again, "And you can shut up too Poindexter," He rounded on Cro-Marmot, "We've got enough old geeks telling us what to do. My _'friend' _agrees he's just too sissy to say it." He laughed again, throwing his cigarette to the ground setting the broken chair on fire, "Nothing happened okay. We got dragged to the museum, I took over I killed a load of people and went home."

Giggles listened to Cro's reply with awe and the small green bear whirled around to face him, "I did not DIE!"

He charged, a bowie knife spinning from his sleeve and into his hand, he raged towards Cro and Giggles, a whirling tornado of death, he approached the line on the floor setting one foot over it.

Then the chains clicked, sliding over each other and dragging the green eyed soldier with them. He was hoisted off his feet, burned by the chair and swearing, to hang from the ceiling by his feet. "I didn't die, I never die." He roared and screamed, shaking and bending his chains worryingly, "If you come back here, I'll tear your heads off. Don't think he'll stop me, he can't. I'll..."

But they had gone, Giggles had fled the room as soon as he had charged, Cro had disappeared shortly after that, though Flippy hadn't seen him move, he'd just gone. No one was in the room as he squirmed, no one saw his knife flash, handle held in his mouth. No one was there when the lights went out, and when the doctor came in to turn them back on... Well, he was found three hours later with his throat cut and his lab coat missing.

The hospital really should have been more careful.

... ...

Cuddles eyes opened an hour later, slightly tired but otherwise feeling much better. He rolled over in bed and almost screamed to see Cro-Marmot smiling down at him.

"What are you doing here?" He listened, trying to make sense of the caveman, "What's that got to do with me? Okay, okay, just tell me?" A look of horror spread over his face, "You won't tell her, promise you won't tell her." The smile remained on the frozen man's features, "Please, I'm begging you... Oh come on. Okay I'll do it."

He stood up, and glowering slightly at Cro-Marmot, left the room, leaving the caveman alone.

... ...

Giggles sat in the igloo reading, Cro had one of the largest selections of books in Happy Tree Town and it was still proving pointless, no one had written a book on how to capture a murderer of a candy-addict, a psycho and a pirate, well, not unless you could read Eteocypriot. She threw the book down and looked down, in the corner Cuddles was slumped, unusually quiet and thoughtful, she moved over to sit next to him.

"What's wrong?" Cuddles looked up for a second, before adjusting his hat, mumbling something under his breath and turning away. She touched his arm, "Can't you tell me?"

He shook his head and lowered his hat over his eyes.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Giggles opened her mouth to speak again but Cuddles stood up and crossed the room lifting a book from the pile and looking at its cover, before throwing it to the floor. He stormed out of the room before Giggles could see his face.

Or the tears frozen onto it.

He crossed the green grass, muttering to himself sourly, before kicking his skateboard from the curb, riding off into the town as quickly as he could.

He had something to do.

_Moral: Two wrongs don't make a right._


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I still don't own HTF. But if someone asks, I'm closer than ever._

**AN: I hope everybody's enjoying my story. I told you Flippy wouldn't make things easier. This chapter is quite sad, still I did warn you.**

Chapter 5: Pretty Purple Flowers

Giggles had often heard that the people on the outskirts of Happy Tree Town were all weirdos so pulling up at a completely pristine, seemingly entirely normal, house was a bit of a surprise. She'd known Petunia for years, but she'd never really stopped to look at the houses around her friend's, then again she'd never been investigating a murder before.

She turned to Cro, who was smiling slightly, watching the door infront of them as they waited for the house's owner to answer the bell. It was the strangest thing, she thought, Cuddles had been so desperate to be included in the investigation, but this time he couldn't be found. He was a strange guy, but then again in this town who wasn't? She just supposed that an endless lifetime of death and reincarnation did that to you. Just once, she would like to know she was safe, or at the very least that she would die or age this time, just...

She was snapped out of this depressing thought spiral as the door infront of her creaked open, and a blue skunk stood on the doorstep; a towel wrapped round her head and a duster in her hand. She squeaked slightly when she saw the two _detectives _on her doorstep, by this time almost everyone in Happy Tree Town had heard about the investigation and it was common knowledge that anyone who talked to Cro-Marmot and Giggles could easily be implicated in a horrible crime (Maybe that was why Giggles friends had been avoiding her recently).

"Miss Petunia," Giggles slipped into her best detective voice easily, "We wanted to ask you some questions. Would you mind if we come in?"

Petunia flinched slightly at the suggestion, taking in the muddy feet and dirty hands of her friends, "I, um, haven't quite got around to cleaning yet."

Giggles looked at Cro, Petunia had always had trouble understanding Cro so Giggles repeated him, "It doesn't matter. We just need to come in."

Petunia frowned, "Well, okay." She stood aside and let them into the house, "I'm sorry about the mess."

Giggles walked in, casting her gaze around the pristine house and silently wondered what Petunia was talking about. She frowned slightly, watching as the skunk dashed around cleaning apparently already spotless surfaces. She'd always thought of Petunia as the most normal of her friends, it was sort of sobering to realise what that meant. The skunk finally managed to get the room to her impossible standards and stopped moving, panting slightly, before smiling at Giggles.

"There that's better. Now what did you want to ask?"

Giggles sat down, looking around for Cro, he didn't seem to have entered the house though. She supposed that was natural, the house was warm and homely and Cro hated heat; she was surprised he'd even left his igloo at all. It looked like she was going to need to do this herself. "We were wondering what you knew about the museum?"

Petunia blinked, "The museum I don't know anything about the museum, nope, never been, no, never, never ever ever ever." She was speaking far too fast to be genuine, even if Giggles hadn't talked to Flippy's _friend._

"I know that's not true Petunia," Giggles realised her facade was slipping and corrected herself, how did Cro manage this all the time? "I've already talked to Flippy, he confirmed you were there."

Petunia froze, the false smile dropping from her face, she looked backwards and forwards. Her eyes settled on Giggles, seeking a refuge, some form of sympathy and it was all Giggles could do to stop herself granting it. She had to be professional, no witness could be favoured over the others, that way they stood a hope of catching the killer, that's what Cro had said. But as she watched the people infront of her she found it harder and harder, the blue skunk infront of her was panicking. Grabbing a paper bag from one of the tables Petunia proceeded to hyperventilate. Giggles rushed to her aid, finally managing to calm her she switched back into her _detective mode_, "No one's accusing you of anything Petunia, we just want to know how much you know."

Petunia sighed, placing her duster on the side, along with the bag, she sat down slowly. "Okay, well," She fidgeted slightly, then a smile spread across her face, "I think I forgot to clean my basement I'll just..." She stood and went to leave but Giggles blocked her, "Okay, okay. I took Flippy to the museum because I thought it would help him. They always say the only way to beat your demon is to confront it, and I thought maybe..." She tailed off, a look of horror on her face, "I'm so sorry, I just... I just ran... I'm so sorry I don't think I can help you anymore."

Giggles was silent, she watched her friend sit shakily on her chair and sighed, Cro would never have let her do this, "Okay Petunia, lets just forget about the investigation. Lets just relax."

Petunia smiled, "Really?"

Giggles nodded, smiling, "We can't have you being too stressed to talk for the next week." She bent down and picked up the duster, "Where did you say needed cleaning?"

... ...

For the next few hours Giggles just helped Petunia clean, chatting occasionally but mostly just helping her friend. She finally reached the dining room and turned back to her friend.

"You really do have a lovely house."

"Thanks," Petunia picked a soda out of the fridge and sipped it slowly, "Handy built it for me, back when he still had that big construction business."

Giggles was surprised, she'd never heard of any big businesses in Happy Tree Town, most were too scared to come anywhere near the place, "Handy had a business?"

Petunia laughed, it was good to hear a friendly sound when everyone was so scared of a murderer strong enough to kill Flippy, "Of course, everyone worked for him, Lumpy, Mime, Cuddles, even Cro worked as a architect." She smiled again, "Oh of course, that must have been before you got here. Handy's been around a while."

Giggles nodded, people didn't age in Happy Tree Town and she'd heard that some of the people there might be almost as old as Cro. She thought back, "What about Nutty?"

"Oh Nutty, he never set foot in the place, too crazy." Petunia thought, "That, and Russell worked there."

Giggles sat up at the name, "But aren't they friends?"

Petunia raised an eyebrow and took another sip of soda, "Friends? I always got the impression Russell hated candy addicts, his father's first mate was one. He used to get so mad at Nutty for it, sometimes you couldn't get the smell of seaweed off the walls for weeks."

Giggles frowned slightly, she wanted to pursue that branch of questioning, then she remembered who she was talking to, Petunia was her friend and right now a friend who wasn't obsessed with finding a vicious criminal was something they both needed.

She smiled, "So, what happened to Handy's business?"

Petunia shook her head, "Flippy heard a hammer strike, he went nuts as usual, wrecked the main building. I've never seen Handy so mad, he had that look on his face for three months." She smiled as she remembered it. Giggles smiled too, Handy tried so hard to intimidate people, but the thought of him holding that face for three months was hilarious. She stood and crossed to the kitchen.

"I'll get us some more sodas." She had only just reached the fridge when she heard the whizzing noise and the yelp.

Rushing back into the room the first thing she saw was blood, it covered every surface, glooping down the walls and making a mockery of the long hours the skunk had spent cleaning it. Her friend was laying on the floor her eyes half closed, gasping for breath. On Petunia's face was frozen a look of horror that far outmatched any Giggles had seen before. Tears ran down the blue skunk's face, not just because of the four large knives lodged in her back and arm, but also because of the hideous mess that filled her view. Petunia's breath came in sharp, rasping bursts and Giggles almost fainted with shock. She'd let her guard down and once again it had cost one of her friends dearly. She ran across to Petunia, trying to calm her friend, trying to lift the larger girl, tears ran down her cheeks as she struggled with her friend. She had to get her to the hospital, there was still time... there was still time... there was...

But as she looked down at her friend she knew there wasn't. Petunia's breaths grew more and more shallow. Giggles felt a scream well up in her, flowers of red appeared on her hands as they touched her friends wounds, she put all her strength into lifting, failing again. The terror and sadness inside her built up like a hurricane. Petunia couldn't die, she hadn't been anything to do with the murder, she was just... Petunia coughed, blood rising from her throat, she looked up at Giggles with tear-filled, desperate eyes and Giggles mind was forced back to the look Nutty had given her... Petunia coughed again, shakily raising her hand and trying to grip Giggles arm, but her fingers fell short, her grip loosened, her arm fell limp. Petunia's tears slowly fell down her face and dripped from her chin, no more came, no more gasping breaths, no more desperate movements, just that look. Tears fell from Giggles' eyes, she couldn't hold them back anymore and they fell from her chin as she leaned over her friend's body. Cradling her lifeless friend in her arms she rocked slowly, tears and screams shaking her frame.

A hand touched her shoulder and she looked up to see Cuddles standing over her, he was silent staring kindly down at her. The roles were reversed, now he was the brave one, lending a comforting hand even when he was at the point of collapse. Now she was the one who had to let it out, had to stop keeping it all in; needed a shoulder to lean on, a friend to hold her close as she cried.

_Moral: A healthy home is a happy home._


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I still don't own HTF. But I'm getting evil enough._

**AN: After the last chapter I feel very evil, but we're getting closer to a conclusion.**

Chapter 6: That's Handy

Cuddles looked at the tattered photo in his hands, an old picture of the museum from back when it was built. Black and white of course, the museum was the oldest still standing building in Happy Tree Forest and in front of it stood a young beaver, holding a hammer in his hands and smiling triumphantly. Handy looked a lot better in these old pictures, back before the curse. He shook his head, looking up from the photo and up at Giggles, she lay huddled in the corner, wrapped in a large patchwork blanket that had belonged to Cuddles' mother. She looked awful, her fur was a mess, her face stained with tears and her hands with blood. She hadn't spoken since they had got back from Petunia's and he was beginning to dread that she never would. He rounded on the caveman infront of him.

"How could you make her do this?"

Silence.

"Answer me! I don't care what your reason is, just tell me. Why'd you make her go alone? Why?"

Still silence.

"TALK TO ME!" He turned away from the silent, frowning caveman and walked slowly towards Giggles. "If you won't tell me," His voice was a lot quieter now, "If you won't talk to me, then tell her. Tell her why you let her go alone." No answer, but this time he could feel the reason. Cro hadn't moved but Cuddles could feel the regret etched on the air itself, he turned his back on the frozen detective his voice barely a whisper "Why?"

... ...

A dark figure slipped away from the house, moving quietly with practiced stealth and speed the murderer, as they were currently known, moved towards the large snow globe.

... ...

The girl woke slowly. Well, maybe she'd already been awake, in any case she came to her senses. Shapes were moving slowly infront of her. Yellow shapes. A person. She tried to remember who it was but she just didn't feel up to it right now. All she knew was that this person was pushing something into her hands. A bowl of something.

"It's soup," The voice said, "Cro says you need to eat something, and for once I agree."

She smiled slightly, lifting her arms to try and take the bowl, but her limbs had never felt so heavy and they fell to her side before she had finished the action. The figure in front of her frowned slightly, before lifting the bowl to her mouth. She smiled and tried to sit forwards, once again failing. The figure lifted a spoonful of soup to her mouth and smiled as she swallowed.

After a few minutes she felt stronger, strong enough to take the bowl from the figure and eat under her own power. She sat and watched the figure, trying to remember where she'd seen him as he turned away to talk to a person behind him.

"She's getting better isn't she?" Silence followed, "I know, I know, but this is getting out of hand... She can't go anywhere at the moment Cro... That's okay just as long as you're sure she'll be fine, she doesn't seem to remember us." He listened for a moment, "In English?... Good." He crossed back to her, bending down to her level, "We need to go somewhere just now Giggles," She assumed he was talking to her, yes 'Giggles' that sounded right, "You'll be fine here," He gestured to the book-filled, ice cold room, "It's the safest place we could find."

The figure stood again and crossed the room, leaving Giggles alone. She sighed, trying again to remember where she'd seen him before, something Petunia had said about him? Wait, Petunia. A flood of memories whirled back, the death, the murder and Cro. That boy had been there too, the yellow rabbit... Now what was his name? And why did he seem so important?

... ...

The hammer dropped to the ground and Handy stood back to admire his work, behind him the two figures watched amazed. Handy turned to them and smiled, "See, just because I've got no hands, doesn't mean I can't build things. Now," he smiled triumphantly at Cro, "What did you want to ask?"

Cuddles stepped forwards, looking over to Cro and smiling slightly, now it was his time to shine, "Mr Handy, we just wondered..." He broke off and glared at Cro, "I didn't interrupt you so let me finish."

Handy laughed, these was hardly the professional detectives he'd expected, "Would you two just get on with it, or do you want me to use my hammer again?" He motioned to an incredibly large hammer next to him, he probably couldn't lift it, but after what they had just seen it wasn't safe to take chances.

... ...

The rest of the interview is best told in a different way. To put it simply Handy is one of the most easily angered and most long winded people in Happy Tree Forest and as a result what the two detectives were treated to was a seven hour rant about how much he hated everyone. For this reason both of them kept a diary of sorts on what they had learnt and while Cro's is far more in depth, it is also in Hebrew, so it is probably best to explain the interview through Cuddles' words. (This article has been edited for irrelevant content and pointless self gratification):

We started the interview as usual... Cro stealing all my best lines, why did he have to drag me along? I mean the whole interview was practically pointless.

Cro started by asking Handy if he knew anything about Flippy's death. Shouldn't it have been obvious? He wasn't even there. But Cro said we had to do it by the book. The book? There are hundreds of books, why'd we have to use his?

But I'm getting off point, Handy ranted about the Mole for half an hour until I managed to ask him what he knew about Petunia's death, after all that was the only way he was connected with this. What does he do then? He bites my head off, goes on and on about what he's going to do to whoever kills Petunia. Ugh... Then he just starts yelling his head off, shouting at us and blaming _us _for everything. Finally we calmed him down enough to ask him about something else, and of all things, Cro asks about the museum. What about Nutty's death, or Russell?

All he wanted to know about was some passage that led under the museum out to the park, he said everyone knew about it. Something about the school children using it (Why didn't they tell me?) Handy told us he'd built it at the same time as the hospital, a few years after the curse had began, it started at the museum but it had several stops before it reached the park (I don't even know why I'm bothering to write this, it's so irrelevant.) he said anyone could have got there, and that it came out right next to some exhibit on ancient weaponry. He took us to the mine to see one of the entrances. Personally I think... (_This is where the editing comes in) ½ a page later_... Then I saw some dark shadow, Cro will say that he saw it first but he's always just bluffing (Like I really believe he met Tutankhamen). We had just asked Handy about Nutty's death when the shadow flickered up against the rocks near the mine entry. Then the whole tunnel started shaking and quaking, and a huge boulder tumbled down from above and struck Handy sending him straight over and into a great big hole in the floor. I rushed over to help him, while Cro just sat back and frowned (He is really useless at this kinda stuff). I told Handy to take my hand, he didn't have to take it so badly.

"Take your hand, who do you think you're talking to, you idiot. I suppose you think you're a real funny-man, I can't take your hand, I..." That's when it hit me, Mime. It hit me like- like... Like that second rock that came down, it struck Handy in the head. His head collapsed, he lost his grip and plummeted, I can't get his face out off my mind... It was horrible...

_(The writing tales off, the next 5 pages are covered in meaningless scribbles and water stains)._

... ...

Giggles stood pinned against the wall, her legs would have collapsed an hour ago were it not for the large knife that pierced her right shoulder. The blood that had trickled from the wound a while ago had stopped flowing and dried. She had tried to get the knife lose but had long since resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't that strong. Why had this happened to her? She felt tears beginning to flow again. Why couldn't that knife have gone a few inches to the left, into a vital organ? But no, it was stupid to wish for that, she just had to stay strong. She raised her hand to the large blade once again and gritted her teeth, pulling with all her might. The steel didn't budge. She let out a silent sob, all she could do was wait for Cro and Cuddles to get back, her arm flopped to her side. All she could do was wait.

_Moral: A friend in need is a friend indeed._


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I don't own Happy Tree Friends._

**AN: Does anyone know who the murderer is yet? If not then there isn't long to wait, (The excitement is killing me). Have I managed to outwit you? (Of course not, I'm not quite that clever, I'm sure).**

Chapter 7: Mime and Murderers.

Cuddles and Giggles sat against the wall of the room, Giggles was pale and her right arm lay in a sling. Cuddles felt terrible, after all that yelling he had done at Cro he had gone and done the exact same thing, Giggles would think he was an idiot. She'd go off with Cro and then it wouldn't matter if she knew... No, he wasn't thinking straight, he looked forwards at the interview room. Cro sat motionless on one of the chairs, frowning as he tried, slightly half-heartedly, to follow Cuddles' advice and get some information out of the silent antelope infront of him. Cuddles sighed and stood up, walking outside he crossed to an ice cream truck (Where he was served, somehow, by Cro-Marmot), he then re-entered the room, passing an ice cream to Giggles.

"Has he said anything?"

She looked up at him and smiled weakly, "Which one?"

Cuddles smiled back, "Either of them." His voice was lined with false desperation and she laughed. It was good to hear her laugh, he felt calmer just to know she was happy, or at least well enough to keep up the act. "Are you feeling better?"

Giggles thought for a second, her right arm wouldn't move, an ugly crooked scar coursed down it. But her memory felt better, she remembered Cuddles now, he had been almost the first person she had met in Happy Tree Forest and they had been friends ever since. She nodded, she felt happier just to know he and Cro were there, her friend and her mentor, the people who, at this point, made her feel most safe.

The mime stood up and cartwheeled out, silently frowning. Giggles turned to Cro, "Why did you need to do that?" She waited, "What do you mean to get the final piece of evidence? You mean you understood him?... Yes I know I understand you... But if you already know who did it why did you need to ask him?" She smiled slightly, giggling.

Cuddles looked confused, "What did he say?"

Giggles finally stopped laughing and looked up at him, "He said he wanted it to be like a book."

... ...

Three hours later Giggles sat in the Town Hall, Cro had rented the place for the night. He had left a list of instructions for Giggles while he had talked to Cuddles about something for an hour or two. She looked down at the list, then up at Cro, who was frozen in his ice cube, pointing straight ahead. "You lazy..." She smiled and turned to Cuddles, "He wants us to turn him round so he doesn't have to move."

Cuddles frowned and opened his mouth to say something, before he could however the door clicked open and Pop walked in, carrying his son in his hand.

"You wanted me to come here." He raised an eyebrow at the seemingly thrown-together detective agency infront of him.

Cuddles, feeling the older man's gaze on him, slipped into his most imposing detective mode. Giggles smiled, trying to be as offhand as possible she motioned to a chair in the middle of the room. Pop hesitated slightly before sitting, Giggles couldn't blame him, in the seat next to him was an ornate gold frame, within the frame was a large almost life sized photo of the second victim, Nutty. The same was true of four more chairs throughout the room, Flippy glared from his photo, Russell grinned from his, Petunia's picture smiled (slightly forcedly) out at the room and Handy, he glowered at the people in the room around him.

Giggles felt slightly uncomfortable herself, the photos were designed for psychological effect and literary finesse, Cro was a stickler for stylish touches, but couldn't he have chosen a slightly less macabre one.

But it was too late now, Disco Bear, Toothy, even a reincarnated Lammy pushed through the door, taking the places Giggles pointed to and fidgeting, within half an hour the room was filled with people.

Giggles stepped forwards, not everyone found it easy to understand Cro, she would have to do the talking, "Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you all for coming here." She listened to Cro, before repeating, "We are here today because we have a murderer in our midst," She frowned, it all sounded so cliche. "To understand this crime, we will need to, I am informed, investigate a few paths. If any of you are uncomfortable with this," She listened her frown intensified, "I can't say that!" She whispered, before turning back to the crowd, "Then, um, tough. There's, um, no backing out just because you are not entirely satisfied. After all we have a murderer to catch."

There was a rumble of annoyance throughout the hall, but Cuddles stepped forwards, raising a hand for silence and the sight of his new persona, bunny slippers or not, threw the hall into silence.

"Thank you. As you can see, Cro-Marmot has been investigating the recent crimes. We will begin straight away, starting with."

Cuddles pushed against the ice cube, turning it slightly so that the hand rested on the portrait of Petunia, "Petunia. She I am sure you are all aware, was brutally stabbed with the same knives as Flippy, yet she had no obvious connection with the murder. Why then was she killed?" Giggles felt her voice falter slightly, she looked up at Cro silently, before looking on and continuing, they all needed to make sacrifices, at least they would find the murderer, "The answer is obvious, if the museum was locked after Flippy's murder and no one could have been there since. It stands to reason therefore that those swords must have been taken when Flippy was murdered. Perhaps the murderer thought they had been seen. Um, maybe," She hesitated, gulping, "Maybe that was why Petunia was so reluctant to talk to us. But Petunia did tell us one thing, Handy used to have a business that collapsed when Flippy flipped out."

Murmurs spread out around the hall again, so Handy had had a reason to kill Flippy? Suddenly accusations buzzed and flew like a hive of bees. But settled again under the stone cold glare of Cro-Marmot.

"Quiet!" Cuddles voice rang out and the murmurs finally ceased, he turned to Cro, "Sometimes sitting around whispering isn't enough." He stood back and almost thought he heard cold words, whispering in his mind, agreeing.

"Okay, where was I," Giggles continued, slightly nervously wringing her one working hand. "Um," The crowd was not impressed, but she continued as Cuddles once again turned Cro, "Which leads nicely on to Handy, he told us very little, many people had grudges against him I'm sure," Nervous muttering followed her statement, "Handy was not afraid to tread on people's toes and, were it not for the logical progression of these crime, I would expect that one of you had killed him in a copycat attempt to settle a score." Giggles flinched slightly as she said this, she had never thought of the people of Happy Tree Town as that dark, but Cro was a mystery author, to him everything was dark, "He, um, he told us that a passage connected the museum to the park, specifically the indoor knife exhibit to the park. Any murderer could have escaped through this and to almost any part of Happy Tree Town, simply it could have been anyone here tonight."

Giggles mopped her brow, she realised she had been sweating, her voice faltering slightly, she wasn't cut out to be a detective she realised yet again, Cuddles could act, Cro could become a character in a novel, they could detach themselves from the world, her own limp arm was a reminder that she couldn't. She sat down into a chair next to Cro and continued, "This now brings us to the chain of events, the, um, links that led towards the climax... the climax that brought about five brutal murders." The moving finger of the caveman settled on Nutty, causing Pop to flinch away from the judgment, "Nutty a candy addict of the most disturbing level, everyone knew that, and four days ago someone used it against him. He was poisoned with a mixture of a strong poison and fudge. That is as I'm sure you will know," She found herself addressing just a few people in the crowd now, "about five times as potent as sugar." She cleared her throat, "But this chain of events starts long before that, it starts with Russell," The finger of blame was pushed to face the pirate's photo, "He hated candy addiction and a week ago, he attempted an intervention to change Nutty's ways, he grew so mad with the squirrel that the seaweed smell he creates filled the house for days afterwards. And in his anger he stole some of Nutty's candy, replacing it with vitamin pills, this is what brought Nutty to his knees both figuratively, um," Her voice tailed off as she remembered the squirrel's desperate face as he had begged for candy, "Both, um, figuratively and... literally. This also, unknown to him caused both their deaths, although he probably realised this slightly before his own death. You see Nutty never went to the museum, Russell hid his candies there because Nutty would never go there." She turned to Cro to see if she was translating correctly, but only met his stern blank stare, "Er, the murderer saw this and panicked assuming Nutty had been there. They killed him, then realising their mistake they destroyed Russell's house by baiting his hooks with the same poison that was mixed into the fudge that killed Nutty, which I am reliably informed," Giggles frowned at the revelation, "Can also be used to attract sharks..." She trailed off again, remembering her thoughts. _One fish couldn't have done all that damage. _She almost collapsed at the thought. Then she remembered where she was. The crowd, sensing her distraction had already broken into accusations and yet more excited whispering.

"Next to the living." Giggles felt more confident this time, "First to Shifty and Lifty who, I believe are moving through the audience tonight," She felt slightly better at the next part, "Relieving you of your valuables." The crowd burst into uproar and the two brothers fled, dropping their ill-gotten gains as they rushed back to their seats and tried to look innocent, "They attempted to steal a few choice objects from the museum the previous night, resulting the knife exhibit being relocated to just by the main doors, which allowed the murderer their weapons." The crowd growled, "Please ladies and gentlemen, there will be plenty of time for uproar when we are finished, next to Sniffles," The little, newly resurrected anteater squirmed under Cro's cold gaze, Giggles continued, "He was the one I believe who suggested to Petunia that taking Flippy to the museum may cure him, a sort of shock therapy if you will. Unfortunately it didn't go as planned and he was killed. And then there's..."

"Disco Bear." Giggles raised an eyebrow. She may not have liked Disco Bear, but he certainly wasn't clever enough to plot a murder.

"Hey!" Disco Bear's voice rose indignantly, "What did I do?" Giggles listened for Cro's response, and smiled slightly.

"Err... nothing. Cro just wanted you to know that your to fill out seats. I don't think he likes you all that much." Disco Bear huffed, and Giggles began to repeat Cro again. "And next we move to..."

The block was turned, Cro's ice grinding against the floor, the crowd gasped and Giggles voice trailed off, she could barely get out the next word as she saw on who the finger rested.

"Cuddles."

_Moral: Actions speak louder than words._


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: I don't own HTF._

**AN: Okay. Time to reveal the murderer. It's too late to turn back now (This chapters been ready since before I added the last one). As always thanks everyone for all the reviews.**

Chapter 8: Best Kept Secrets.

Giggles gasped, her voice tailing away into complete silence. Cuddles just backed slowly away, mouthing words silently, he had lost the authority he had only a second ago. Giggles just tried to get her mind under control, "What?" She turned to Cro, desperately searching for a smile of humour on his face. But of course she found none, "You can't be saying..." He just stared at Cuddles with a stern look on his face.

The yellow bunny backed away still further, "B-but, you promised." He stuttered, "Y-you said you wouldn't tell her!" His voice faltered under Cro's gaze.

"Um, I-I can't do this." Giggles turned to Cro, "No I... But... O-okay," She continued, anxious now that she was aware of every eye being on her, "Um, a-as you know the museum predates the curse. W-we also learnt, um, that Handy's business built the museum." She stuttered slightly, "Um, that means that someone employed there would have known about the..." She listened again sighing, "About the tunnel beneath it. Assuming they worked there since the museum was made."

A look of fear spread across Cuddles' face, he moved forwards slowly, "Please Cro, you said..."

Giggles frowned at Cro's reply, "I'm really sorry Cuddles, Cro said that we'd investigate all the paths, no matter how uncomfortable." She listened again, "I can't say this Cro... Okay," She slumped slightly, sitting back with a sad look on her face; a knot was tightening in her stomach, "T-this is the only way we can catch the m-murderer and that is what I intend to do."

The colour drained from the yellow bunny's face and he slumped, sitting against the wall he looked up at Giggles in desperation, "Please."

Giggles just shook her head sadly, by now the hall had descended into silence, recognising perhaps the effort it took for Giggles to continue, they let her talk uninterrupted, "Y-you used to work for Handy, correct Cuddles?..." Cuddles shook, dumbly he nodded. Giggles paled but continued, "I t-thought so. You showed expert knowledge of..." She trailed off, realising what she had just said. "Of the museum, but that means."

Cuddles looked up desperately still, his eyes searching for any sign of support in the crowd, "He's... he's lying." He turned to Giggles, "He promised he wouldn't tell you." Giggles looked down at him now, she could feel her voice wavering with every syllable.

"Um, Y-y-you also gave Nutty t-that candy remember? You were..." She chocked back the knot that was forming in her throat, "also at the scene of every murder or there shortly afterwards."

Cuddles backed still further, but there was nowhere else to go, he curled into a ball, pleading as best he could, "I didn't. You gotta believe me Giggles, Cro," He turned to the two others, "you know me, I'd never."

But Cro continued, Giggles felt the knot form again, but she couldn't just stop now. She needed to get to the bottom of this murder, if she didn't she would just end up with more unanswered questions. "I'm sorry Cuddles but I have to finish... T-t-this is just one of the things that incriminates you. I-it is, is, s-s-so obvious that you are guilty that..." She stopped, raising her head with a look of disbelief on her face, "that, it couldn't possibly be you." A look of shock spread across her face. Followed by a nervous smile.

Cuddles eyes opened in disbelief, he sniffed and gave a sigh of relief. But the look on his face turned quickly to one of deep hurt, "You said you wouldn't tell her, you used me."

Giggles frowned, Cro couldn't be right, Cuddles couldn't be that old... The museum was ancient, the curse was ancient. But then again, no one aged in Happy Tree Town, so maybe... She was interrupted as Cro continued, she picked up where she had left off, somewhat shakily but definitely more confident, "Therefore we have to move on to another suspect..." Her eyes scanned the hall and settled on an empty seat, her eyes widened as she recognised who it belonged to and a large saucepan hit her in the back of the head, sending her reeling to the floor. As she blacked out she only had one thought... And then she had none.


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: I don't own HTF. I just own a laptop and have a brother who introduced me to the show._

**AN: I'm really glad that everyone is reading my story. I know the last chapter was a bit short but I just felt I needed a gap there, it was kind of a tension thing. Special thanks to everyone who's reviewed and anyone whose had a guess at who the murderer is.  
**

Chapter 9: Roses are Red (Giant saws soon will be)

Consciousness returned slowly as usual. First the sharp pains, like the one in the back of her head. Then the dull throbbing pains, like her right arm. These were followed as usual by the normal feelings; then hearing, some sort of grating sound in the distance. Then smell, a natural smell, something sort of comforting and outdoors-y, sawdust. Finally she was ready to open her eyes, colours danced infront of them in an indistinct swirl, obviously sight wasn't ready yet.

She blinked and the colours danced slower, settling into a pattern... Something red... Red and large, and blobby... No not blobby, spiky... Something Red and large and spiky and getting closer. A person. Someone she knew, no not just that, a friend... Flaky.

"Flaky," Her voice sounded weak and far away, "What's going on? Where am I?"

Flaky jumped, turning on the spot she span to face her, a look of terror on the porcupine's face, but seeing the chipmunk she smiled nervously, "Oh, hey Giggles. I wasn't expecting you to wake up so soon. I kinda wasn't planning this."

"What do you mean?" Giggles tried to move towards her friend, only to realise that her legs were chained down. In fact chains spiraled across her chest and legs, pinning her arms by her side and her body in place, they were spread haphazardly across her, obviously tightened quickly and careless but no less effectively, she couldn't move. "What's going on?" Flaky began to turn away, "Please Flaky, help."

Flaky walked to the other side of the room, turned back to Giggles and frowned nervously, "I'm really s-sorry Giggles, b-but I just can't." She looked backwards and forwards, "You might tell someone."

"Tell someone what?" Giggles was confused, her mind was starting to piece this together, but she still hadn't got there, "What's going on?"

Flaky giggled nervously, "Well you see the thing is..." She looked round, "Oh god!" She fell to her knees, rocking slowly, "Oh god, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry about all of this Giggles. I liked you, really, we were friends. But you'd just tell someone- you almost did- and then..." She broke off, whimpering, before breaking into a wide and slightly creepy smile, "Which is why I'm going to kill you. I'm really sorry, but there's no other way." She giggled again, her smile twitching slightly and dashed back to a control panel in the wall. Laughing slightly manically.

Giggles struggled with her chains, her mind may not be clear but she could tell something was wrong. She pulled against the chains but only caused them to rattle gently, "Flaky, what are you doing? Help me!" But the porcupine just frowned, still laughing and beginning to sing under her breath.

"Rockabye, baby on the tree top," Her voice wobbled slightly, trying to block out Giggles' screams, "When the wind blows the cradle will rock," She hit another button, raising the thing Giggles was tied to, a log. "When the bow brakes the cradle will fall," She laughed slightly, flinching, her eye twitching again, "Down will come Giggles, cradle and all." She hit another large button, dropping the log down hard onto a conveyor belt.

Giggles struggled and screamed, trying to get free, but Flaky just smiled, "I'm really sorry Giggles, I didn't want it to happen this way. You're my friend after all, but you'd only tell someone. Then..." Her eyes glazed and she stared from left to right, skipping slightly on the spot she let a look of horror spread across her face, "They'd do horrible things Giggles, I can't go... I can't go... They'd... Oh god, I'm so sorry." She leaned against the control panel, tears streaming down her face, hugging herself tightly, she began singing shakily again. Sobs shook the porcupine's frame as her voice sounded quietly, "Rockabye baby on the treetop."

"I wouldn't try talking to her Giggles," The voice snapped her away from the porcupine's quiet sorrow. She looked sideways to see Cuddles, chained to yet another log right next to her. "She's lost it, she spent ten minutes talking to me about nothing and singing nursery rhymes." He tried to shrug but ended up just shaking his chains. "But Giggles, I want to talk to you. I wanted to say I'm sorry."

Giggles frowned, "Why do you need to apologise?"

Cuddles looked down at his feet, or he would have if he could have seen them, he sighed, "I should have told you."

Giggles tried to sit up, or to turn round to look at him, but since that was impossible she just turned back to the ceiling, "Told me what?"

Cuddles groaned turning to her with tears on his cheeks, "Told you that I was old! That I'd been here forever, since the curse began. I was just... scared. I was so scared okay."

Giggles shook her head, "Why?"

Cuddles voice cracked for a second, "I just wanted you to think I was cool. You never would have liked me if you'd known how old I was. I didn't want to be special, I just wanted to be your friend." He sighed, and for a second Giggles could easily believe that he was as old as he said.

"Why would that matter?" She asked, "I mean I'm friends with Cro."

Cuddles turned away, "Yes, but Cro's a genius. Cro's strong and fast and he's interesting. He has basically every book ever and..." He tailed off, before beginning again, "All I've got is my looks, my awesome blush-marks and my great bunny slippers." Giggles laughed but he kept talking, "You would have gone off with him in a second if you'd known and I would have been alone." He sniffed slightly and fell into silence.

Giggles smiled, Cuddles could be funny sometimes, she would have put her arm out to comfort him but she couldn't, so instead she just turned her head to him, "That's ridiculous, you're my friend, no matter how old you are." He opened his mouth to speak but she shushed him, "You don't have to worry about anything else you haven't told me. Right now I think you should worry about where this conveyor belt is heading and what that grinding noise is."

Cuddles laughed, "Oh that's just the huge saw at the end of the tunnel. I think we're in the old saw mill." He continued smiling for a second, before realising what he had just said and struggling frantically with his shackles.

"I wouldn't struggle to much if I were you." Cuddles and Giggles looked up to see the little red porcupine leaning against a wall above them. She frowned slightly, "I'm really sorry, b-but if you just, um, s-sit back I'm sure..." She mumbled slightly, "It'll be less painful." She sighed and flopped down, leaning heavily over the iron bar of the walkway. "I'm sorry guys, it's just..." She lent forwards her eyes bulging with terror, "I'm scared... I can't do it, I just can't do it... They'd hurt me... So much." Tears streamed down her face and Giggles felt herself feeling sorry for the girl, she called up to her.

"Flaky, you don't have to do this, whoever you're running from, we can help you." She yelled.

The porcupine just shook her head and stepped backwards, sitting down and curling herself into a ball, "No, you can't," She smiled slightly, "But when you recover we can still be friends." She sighed, her voice filled with fear, "If you go down to the woods today you're sure of a big surprise..." Her voice was carried away and into the distance as the two captives moved away, once again into the covered belt. The voice died away and only echoing grinding sound could be heard.

The conveyor belt had now widened and more logs moved into the way. Upon one such log was tied a large cube of ice, Giggles smiled to see Cro. Cuddles meanwhile turned away, obviously still annoyed with the caveman. Giggles looked up at Cro and frowned slightly, "Why did you do it Cro?..." She frowned, "Don't look at me like that you know exactly what I mean. If you knew it was Flaky why didn't you just tell everyone, why did you make me say that stuff?... About Cuddles." She frowned still more, turning away from him with a look of horror on her face.

Cuddles looked surprised, "What did he say?"

Giggles mouth moved wordlessly, then finally she managed to put the words together, "So it would be like a book." She fell into silence, staring at the roof. She sighed then she heard the voice again.

"Sorry guys, I'm so sorry." The red porcupines voice floated down from yet another walkway above the conveyor belt. Giggles stared up at her, a look of shock spreading across her face.

"If you're so sorry about this, then why don't you help us?"

Flaky staggered backwards from the edge of the walkway, "You don't understand... Ugh, no one understands." Tears streamed unrestrained from her eyes, "I can't... I mean..." She fell back further, curling herself into as small a place as possible, as if she wanted to disappear. "I just wish." She cast her eyes around with a look of absolute terror again, her whole body shaking, "I wish you'd all stayed dead." She turned and walked slowly from the platform, her head in her hands. Sobbing, Flaky struck one of the levers next to her and the conveyor belts speed doubled.

Cuddles groaned, "Why did we make this conveyor belt so slow?" He began yelling at the top of his voice, "I mean come on. Whys this death so damn slow? If your going to kill me get it over with!" His chains rattled and shook as he writhed but still they didn't budge. He arched his back and pulled his arms as with all his strength, the chains didn't move. Suddenly a wrenching sound echoed across the belt and Cuddles gave a scream, tears ran down his face and he stopped struggling, "I can't die like this... Not like this." He twisted his head to look at Cro, "This is your fault, all your fault." Cro just stared at the ceiling, "Why won't you talk to me!"

Giggles turned away from the manic bunny and towards Cro, "What do we do?... Nothing, you don't have a plan?" Cro said nothing, but kept staring at the ceiling. His log lay on a separate conveyor and he moved ahead slowly, "What do you mean?" More silence, "Cro what are you doing."

The log moved ahead faster now, now the end of the belt was in sight, three huge saws, hundreds of smaller one lined the walls behind them, carving through wood, reducing it all to sawdust in seconds. The caveman's log moved towards this faster still and Giggles cringed slightly, she knew what was coming... She just didn't want to.

The saws ground, turning reddish-brown with rust. Then the brown tinge disappeared, the red colour spread across the huge saws, the bright red that replaced it seemed sort of... Giggles closed her eyes, she couldn't watch. She just waited for the saws to... But a grating noise began. If her eyes had been open she would have seen the saws shake and grind against each other, their rust catching and they slowed. She opened her eyes slightly to see that the blades had come to a shuddering halt. Ice jammed in joints. She flinched at the sight of the blood drenched over the stationary saws. She gulped slightly as some of the remains slid down and struck the log next to her, hitting Cuddles in the face and snapping him back to reality. Giggles tried to move, but of course the chains held her still. She sighed, Flaky was sure to come this way eventually and...

"You look like you need help ma'am." The voice came from outside her field of vision, it sounded restrained and disciplined and for a second she couldn't place it. Then a section of wall moved, changing colour slowly. A hand stretched out from the section and gripped the chains, snapping them easily; slowly the figure formed, green fur and khaki. Flippy slowly came into focus, smiling, he saluted the chipmunk. "Good to see you're okay ma'am." He snapped Giggles chains and tore them apart, "Now I believe I have somewhere to be." His pupils shrank and a green hue took over, he smiled cruelly and turned away. "No one kills us."

Giggles stood up shakily, that couldn't be good, she crossed to Cuddles and began to struggle with his chains.

"Let me do that," Cuddles slipped his arm out of the chains and placed his hand on the lock.

Giggles looked at him, "If you could do that why didn't you do it before?"

Cuddles looked at his hand and shrugged. "I guess I just panicked." Giggles sighed, and after a few seconds of struggling Cuddles was free. He stood, "Do you think we should get out of here?"

Giggles nodded, turning on her heel and heading in the direction Flippy had gone. No matter what the porcupine had done, you could bet that bear would do worse to her.

... ...

Giggles rounded the corner in time to see Flippy advancing on the helpless red porcupine. The girl had curled herself into the corner, tears streaming down her face, "You don't understand," Her voice was barely a whisper, "They'll..."

Flippy laughed, "You think I care. Well if it'll take your mind off your fears I'll tell you what I'll do..."

He paused for a moment, watching her as she crawled further away, trapping herself still more, "I-it was an accident... Please... I mean, I didn't."

Flippy cackled, "As I said: You think I care. Now, first I thought... blinding," He drew his knife back, "No... Then I couldn't watch your lights go out. Maybe," He smiled, "You'll still be able to scream without a tongue right? Yeah, just about." He took another step towards the girl, "Then I think I'll cut your tendons and... Oh, those ridiculous quills of yours, I wonder just how many you can swallow before you die. I'd like to know that."

Flaky curled up even more, "Please... I was scared."

Flippy grinned, "I hate having to repeat myself, so I guess we'll just start now." He raised his knife and sprang forwards. Only to be hit in the head by a bag of sawdust. He whirled round swearing to face his new enemy, smiling as he saw Cuddles standing there, "You're gonna be sorry you did that kid."

Cuddles flinched slightly, looking back at Giggles before stepping forwards, "Pick on someone your own size."

"Gladly," Flippy twisted, sending a small flip knife spinning out of his sleeve and striking Cuddles in the stomach, causing him to fall back. He smiled and turned back to Flaky, "Now where was I?" He advanced on the sobbing Flaky.

From the ground Cuddles smiled up at Giggles as best as he was able, wincing slightly, "Okay, that didn't work." He turned onto his front and began to get up, but Giggles grabbed him and pulled him back out of Flippy's sight. She sighed, as usual this wasn't working out.

"Cro said that this should be like a book and everything he's said has worked so far... Except the blaming you obviously." He laughed slightly, once again wincing and she took his hand for a second, "If I get killed, come and visit me."

She began to walk away. Flippy didn't notice her, she could have hit him in the head now, but what with? He'd just kill her. She could hear screaming coming from the corner, she shivered. Flippy's laughter rose above everything, she could barely speak, her mouth felt dry... She was really going to talk to this man? She cleared her throat, "Flippy, leave her alone."

He turned on her, from his feet Flaky looked up, blood flowing from her mouth, she gave a gargled squeak and the tears flowed again. Giggles stared in horror, before Flippy began to turn back. She had to say something, "You can't do this."

Flippy smiled, ripping a quill from Flaky's back and feeling it's point, "Why?" He smiled, satisfied and stabbed Flaky in the stomach with it.

"I wasn't talking to you," She looked down at Flaky, "You can't just give up. Whatever _they'd _do to you, he'll do worse. Just run away Flaky..."

Flaky tried to stand but fell forwards crying, blood and tears falling from her face. Flippy cringed, "I don't have time to listen to this," He ripped out another spine and turned away, "I have something to do."

"Then listen to this," Giggles took a step forwards, she had to stop him, "She doesn't deserve this and somewhere deep down Flippy knows that... You know that."

Flippy frowned, "You may have a point," He stepped forwards tilting Flaky's head back, forcing her mouth open and jamming the spike down her throat, "But I'll worry about that later." He watched as Flaky fell forwards chocking and smiled.

Giggles recoiled in horror, a scream sticking in her throat, she couldn't fight this guy, she couldn't reason with him... They were as good as dead. But a hand gripped hers and she looked round to see Cuddles smiling up at her. Her confidence restored she stepped forwards again, "Flippy your in there somewhere, you just need to fight back."

Flippy smiled, ripping out yet another quill, he picked his teeth with it, "You would be amazed how many people have tried that, it doesn't work." He smiled and looked over at Flaky, "So, enjoying your meal?" He laughed kicking the porcupine in the head as she tried to crawl away. Giggles persisted, trying to remember what Good Flippy had been like in hospital.

"But..."

"Give up. People have tried and failed to reach my friend, only she's managed it." He pointed to Flaky laughing as he drew out another spine, holding it ready he smiled up at Giggles, "And right now he doesn't even know who she is. You can't stop me you know."

Giggles had stopped listening, she'd thought of something, "Stand to attention soldier," She barked it out as best she could and to her amazement the bear snapped into place, "What do you think your doing? That girl is a civilian."

Flippy blinked, the green tinge falling from his eyes for a second, then it returned, "She's lying, she's the enemy." He blinked again, "NO! She's the enemy... She was trying to trick you." He blinked again, and this time when his eyes opened they were clear, the green tinge had gone, "You said you'd help me." He bent down to Flaky's level, taking her head in his hands and pulling a hip flask from his pocket, "Is this what you call helping?" He looked up at Giggles, "Good to see you ma'am." He helped Flaky to a drink, "Could you lend me a hand?" She rushed forwards, helping him to lift Flaky onto the bears shoulders, the bear took the weight with barely a grunt and frowned, tears running down his face, "I did this Giggles," His memories flooding back, "I always do this... I don't blame her for what she did to me... I deserved it."

Giggles opened her mouth to correct him, but he began to walk away, his mouth a grim slash. He reached a door and was gone. Giggles had no doubt what he had gone to do, Flaky had suffered enough, she'd been terrified and Giggles now realised what she had been afraid of... She had been horrified at the thought of going to prison, of them realising how mad she really was, of being sent away. But someone had to take the blame, Flippy knew that.

She turned to Cuddles, "They're going to be okay Cuddles." She took his hand and helped him to his feet, catching him slightly as he fell forwards. He'd be okay too, once he got his balance back, in a few days. But right now, he just needed a friend. Because Cro was wrong, there was a time for being a detective, for cleverness and poise. But now what they all needed was simple, friends, happiness, and maybe a little love. She took Cuddles' hand and smiled looking up at the skylights. Her right arm was limp by her side, her memory was still not perfect. But these things didn't matter, they might even be good things, her arm would recover, and from what she remembered more memories just meant more death. No, none of that mattered at all, because she was here.

And she was happy.


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: I don't own HTF and I somehow just managed to write a story with no OCs (I guess you could count Cro)._

**AN: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed and everyone who has followed my story this far. I could finish my story at the last chapter, but I had a few loose ends that need tying. So this will be the final chapter... Enjoy. If you have anymore problems with the plot I'm sure I can answer them if you ask. :-)  
**

Chapter 10: Cro-Marmot

The sun shone down brightly from an unclouded sky as the doors of the hospital opened. Handy leaned against it, holding it open for Petunia to go past, he glowered, a day like this shouldn't be sunny, not today. Petunia just smiled and gripped his arm, pulling him away from the hospital and out into the world. Russell followed, picking a hook from his pocket and fastening it tightly to his arm. Finally came Flaky wobbling on her feet nervously, leaning heavily on the green squirrel next to her. Nutty stopped for a second, pulling a lolly off his fur and licking it happily, he turned to Flaky.

"You look tired," He held out the sweet, "Want some candy?" Flaky flinched away, almost falling away from the giggling squirrel. Nutty's arm shot out, dropping his sweets and grabbing Flaky by the wrist, pulling her back to her feet, "You should be careful, it's not safe on the ground." He giggled again, his eyes spinning as he tilted his head back and swallowed yet another handful of candy, "In fact, reality ain't safe."

Flaky pulled away from the green addict, trying to keep as far away from him without falling. She stopped infront of Toothy, the beaver had only just recovered from a death but was already standing on the steps, a clipboard in his hand wearing a lab coat.  
"Nutty, Flaky, I wanted to see you before you left." Flaky tried to hide behind Nutty, who looked up, smiling dangerously manically, eyes still spinning.

Toothy bit his lip, "Okay Nutty. You were right, I don't know how you managed it, but..." He raised a box, "When we cremated you, your blood turned to caramel. I guess you really did eat that much sugar." He threw the box to the squirrel, who gasped happily, pulling some of the candy out and swallowing it.

"Hehehe, who wants my arm?" He laughed, Flaky and Toothy both backed away, "Suit yourself. Don't know what your missing." He mumbled through a mouthful of sugar, "Are you sure you don't want any candy?" He turned to Flaky, "It looks like you need some."

Toothy stepped forwards again, grimly looking down at his notes, "And Flaky. Your psychological profile came through." Flaky stepped back, horror etched on her features, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, searching for some kind of sympathy on the faces of the two creatures infront of her. Toothy frowned, "I'm afraid that my professional recommendation would have to be a spell in an asylum."

Flaky backed still further away, she looked close to collapse beneath Toothy's glare. "I can't... Oh god, I'm sorry... I just... Please." Her eyes were desperate, searching, terrified. Toothy just frowned, leaning forward he reached his hand out to Flaky, Nutty gripped her other hand and lifted Flaky easily to her feet. Toothy surveyed his notes and drew out a lighter.

"It's just a good thing I'm not much of a professional," He lit the notes, dropping them to the ground and turning away, "As far as the world knows Flaky, your just as sane as I am."

He smiled and walked away, leaving Flaky sighing with relief. Nutty helped her stand and smiled as well.

"See Flaky, your as sane as I am." She looked at him for a second, with his spinning eyes, sticky mouth and constant giggling, and she couldn't help laughing.

... ...

Giggles could hear the piano long before she reached the igloo, it rang across the snow dome and rose into the cold. She smiled and turned to Cuddles, Cro was back and they had decided to visit him. Just to check he was okay.

"I always liked this song."

Cuddles frowned, "It's not really a song, he isn't singing." She smiled at him and shook her head, "What?" She just smiled again, walking towards the igloo.

The music cut off as she entered and she looked forwards to see Cro, sitting at his piano, a smile playing across his face. The frozen caveman watched her and Cuddles enter without comment and waited for them to speak.

"How are you feeling Cro?" She listened, "Good."

Cuddles walked up to the caveman and smiled at him, "I- um- I wanted to say thanks for saving us and all... and..." He looked over at Giggles who nodded, "I guess I should apologise for getting so mad at you..." He paused, "What do you mean 'yes you should' you're supposed to apologise for lying to me." He turned away mumbling.

Giggles smiled, Cuddles was funny when he was mad, "I'm still not sure why you did that Cro. I mean, if you were going to blame anyone why not blame someone else?... What do mean you don't think we make a good couple... We're just friends... What are you my dad?" She turned away in mock annoyance.

Cuddles finally regained composure and turned back to Cro, "So, I was kind of wondering, what did happen?" He listened, "No that really doesn't help."

Giggles sighed, why did she always have to interrupt for her friends, she listened to Cro and began, "Petunia took Flippy to the museum because she thought it would help her cure him. It didn't work and he flipped out, killing everything."

"So why did he die?"

"He tried to attack Flaky, she curled up, and as you know those quills are sharp, Flippy probably impaled himself on one of them, his survival instinct took over and he pulled back, damaging himself even more and dying. Flaky panicked, was scared that she'd be arrested, and used the knives to disguise it as a murder."

Cuddles smiled, "So it really was an accident."

Giggles nodded, "Looks that way," She frowned, "But why did we need to ask Mime anything?... That's just stupid." She looked up at the confused Cuddles, "He says the Mime's funny."

Cuddles laughed, leaning on the wall he spotted a book lying on the piano, "What's that?"

Giggles looked up at Cro and when he showed no signs of answering she opened it, "_Death at the Poles _by Cro-Marmot (co. 15000BC)." She flicked the book open and began to read, she smiled at the description, losing herself in the book. The plot picked up quickly, carrying her along and enthralling her completely. She wasn't even interrupted by the soft smashing noise (Cuddles must have dropped something) that came an hour or so later. She read, absorbed by the mystery, shocked and appalled by the motives and secrets, finally she finished as one of the characters died to save the others from the murderer. This book reminded her of something.

Then it struck her, "Cro, somethings missing... How did Flaky get those knives, even Flippy's not that strong and they were behind reinforced glass." No answer, if Cro had said anything even she couldn't understand it, "She must have had someone helping her. Didn't she?" It was obvious, "She had an accomplice... Just like. In your book... Cro?"

She looked up and was silenced by what met her eyes. She saw the blood on every surface, on the wall and floor. A few meters away Cuddles' hat lay tattered and stained...

_I wanted it to be like a book._

She saw the club, ancient and stained. The blackened wood as dangerous as it had been millennia ago.

_Like a book._

Then she saw it. The smile that creased across the prehistoric, stony, dark face. The smile told her everything.

And she screamed.

_Moral: It's always the person you least suspect._


End file.
